Sustainable development ready to take a major step forward – but what does sustainable mean, in the larger context?

And why is it critical, even beyond environmental and economic concerns?

Back in 2002, DuPont CEO Chad Holliday, collaborating with Stephan Schmidheiny (then board chair of AVINA foundation) and Sir Philip Watts (then board chairman at Shell), penned a book called “Walking the Talk” arguing that “sustainability is not only compatible with but crucial to business success”.

Drawing on nearly 70 case histories of companies around the world, the three authors argued that the “three pillars of sustainable development — economic growth, ecological balance, and social progress — work to improve the bottom line even as they create a better world.”